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Friday, January 18, 2013

Short reviews

I love the premise of this one. It’s essentially every good
thing about Jane Austen novels – satire, sisters, social commentary, with the addition of
magic.

Sisters Melody and Jane Ellsworth are very different from
one another – at 28, Jane is heading for spinsterhood while Melody, who is a
good 10 years younger than her sister – is flighty and never thinks past the
end of her own pretty nose.

Jane Ellsworth is particularly skilled at ‘glamour’ – the
use of magic and Melody is… pretty.

I loved the premise so much, and I enjoyed Shades but I
wanted to like it more than I did. I think it would have been more cohesive if
Kowal had focused on one Austen novel, rather than trying to force elements of
all of them into the book. Still, a fun read and an intriguing premise.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

A young woman wakes up in the rain. She has no memory of herself at all, and she’s
surrounded by latex-glove wearing corpses. There’s a letter in her hand, and she
opens it to read “The body you are wearing used to be mine.”

So begins The Rook, a very thinky sci-fi novel by Daniel
O’Malley. I have to admit, like the heroine of the story, I spent large parts
of it massively confused. But O’Malley’s worldbuilding, and the idea that
there’s a tradition-steeped, super-secret organisation like The Checquy
watching over us, were fascinating enough to keep me going.

I really liked the main character, Myfanwy, who is literally
a brand-new person, and the way she sets about finding out what happened to her
predecessor.

Confusing and mind-bendy as it is, I would definitely
recommend The Rook.

The contestants for Miss Teen Dream have crash-landed on a
desert island on their way to the competition. After some Survivor-style
in-fighting, the remaining girls figure out how to survive in the hostile
environment of the island.

However, not everything is as it seems …

I loved Beauty Queens. Absolutely loved it. The satire –
while a bit obvious at times – was incredibly sharp and it’s good to see a book
with girls being completely, 100% kick-ass. Even when the sexy pirates show up.

Quote unquote

Bod said, "I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want," he said and then he paused and he thought. "I want everything."- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman